Fever Dream
by kojicrisp
Summary: Jin Akutsu's got a heck of a cold, but he doesn't need anyone to take care of him...or does he? Akutsu x Taka in all of its weird, awkward wonderfulness.
1. Default Chapter

Fever + Dream  
Chapter One  
  
Oh god, the fucking thing just wasn't letting up. Drainage down his throat; pounding in his ears; chest heavy when he tried to breathe. Woke him up when he tried to go to sleep, and sapped all the energy out of him, made him wilt, when he had things he wanted to get done.  
And it wasn't as if he could relax at home and feel miserable in peace--oh hell no. His mom kept coming in every freaking five minutes with tea and lozenges and that horrible Vicks Vapo Rub and Jin is that cigarette smoke I smell you'll never get over this cold if you keep smoking him to death. He didn't see what was so damn hard to understand. Yeah, it did make his throat hurt worse, but not that much worse--still much preferable to the thought of a dull nic-fit headache. But leave it to her not to think. She'd nag him until he curled up and fucking died right there in front of her, and it wouldn't be from smoking. It'd be from her chronic inability to ever shut up.  
So the ten millionth time she'd come in to harass him he'd decided he'd had enough. He gathered up all of his shit, pulled a sweater on over the long-sleeved shirt he was already wearing--why the fuck was he so cold, when all those other assholes on the streets looked comfortable as anything in t-shirts and shorts--stuck his fucking coat over it for good measure, and started heading toward the door.  
He felt floaty. Kind of like he was dreaming. Having a fever sucked.  
When he got into the living room his mom jumped up--  
"Jin? What are you doing? Where are you going? Can I--"  
"I'm going out," he said flatly. He really hoped to all that was holy he wasn't going to fall over like he thought he might. God knows his mom would go freaking nuts screaming and yelling that her darling son was dying.  
People never left you alone when you wanted them around the least.  
"But you're sick--you've got a fever--Jin, please let me--"  
He was going to slam the door on his way out; gave it a shove as hard as he could and it barely slammed at all. He kicked it for good measure when he was out of there, again not half as hard as he'd intended.  
Fucking piece of shit door. 


	2. Part Two

Fever + Dream  
Chapter Two  
  
By the time Akutsu had made it out to the park, sitting uncomfortably on the bench with his coat now zipped up around him and his head leaning miserably back, he was sure of two things: people talked way the fuck too loud, and he was going to die.  
First place he'd gone had been a restaurant--he didn't have much money, but he figured he could order like the smallest thing they had and drink water until they kicked him out. It was afternoon, before the dinner rush. You'd be surprised at how dead those restaurants were sometimes; even if the managers gave you nasty looks they wouldn't be real adamant about getting you out of there if there weren't better customers waiting for the table.  
But jesus, as soon as he'd sat down and pretended there was anything on the menu he could afford, this group of girls sat down in the booth right next to him and started talking and squealing and blabbing their asses off. Akutsu had shut his eyes tight, taken a long sip of the ice water he'd had the waiter bring, thought to himself that if only he was at his full strength he could have shut those girls up but good, but he wasn't feeling too well and they just kept on blabbing. Finally he'd admitted defeat. He'd thrown the menu down on the table and skulked out.  
So he got the idea he'd go sit in a coffeehouse that wasn't too far from the restaurant, but they wouldn't even give you a glass of water unless you got a real drink, and he couldn't afford that. There was a bookstore not too far from where he was--he definitely wasn't up to walking a long ways, walking made him feel like he was going to black out--but when he was almost in the front door he saw the manager who'd been on duty last time he'd helped himself to a few of their finer magazines and gave it a second thought. He figured the manager'd be on the phone to the cops the second he saw him and while a jail cell, he supposed, would be comparatively quiet and peaceful, his mom would come to get him out of there sooner or later, and what would that leave? More yelling. Loud yelling. His mom's yelling--the most annoying sound in the fucking world.  
  
And so he had come full circle. The only other thing left was the park.  
Hell, it was quiet; you could find a place to sit where no one would bother you. His mom was always telling him he wouldn't get so many colds and shit if he got more sunlight, so it had to do something for whatever he'd come down with. Getting away from people and--oh fuck--screaming children meant a pretty long walk over a couple of hills, but he supposed it was probably worth it. He'd come and sat down and was thinking over the second thing he'd realized.  
Dying...yeah. Probably so. It wasn't a huge deal or anything, but he probably wasn't going to make it through the night. He hoped if he expired right there on the bench some kid would find his sorry corpse and be all freaked out--the thought almost made him smile.  
Little shit better not poke him with a stick or anything. He'd kick his fucking ass.  
Hell, that made no sense. The fever was eating at his fucking brain.  
Akutsu closed his eyes and tried to rest, but you knew you were sick as hell when even resting hurt. Plus, he felt all weird--freezing cold, he'd been cold all day, but when the sun hit him at the right angle or for the right amount of time he'd get hot all of a sudden, and shift his position, and then be freezing again and want the sunlight back.  
Man, it sucked. He'd never heard of some disease where every sound pounded into your head and each one made you sicker. Getting chills from a fever was common enough, he guessed, but he didn't think he'd ever been so cold in his whole life. And just when he fucking finally got comfortable on the bench he started getting thirsty and had to shift to try and see if he had enough coins to go to the vending machine and get a soda or something, and then he wasn't comfortable anymore.  
Fuck it anyway. Even the effort of jingling through what little money he had in his pocket was too much. He pulled his hand out and tried to lean back exactly like he had been before but couldn't quite find the right position. And when he'd settled for second best and finally gotten to where he could doze a little bit there was a voice behind him.  
"Akutsu?"  
He was so groggy at first he thought it was his mom, but it was a guy's voice--a voice he knew, sounding all surprised and concerned and annoying as hell.  
"You okay?"  
Akutsu knew who it was before he managed to pry his eyes open again.  
Kawamura.  
And sure enough there he was, standing there in his school uniform with his bike to his side. He'd leaned his head down to get a better look at him and was staring at Akutsu like he was an alien from freaking outer space.  
"What is it," Akutsu said, voice scratchy.  
"You okay?" Kawamura asked again.  
"Yeah," Akutsu said. "I'm fine." He closed his eyes again. Hopefully even Kawamura could get the hint that he wanted to die in peace.  
"How come--uh," Kawamura hesitated. Guy couldn't finish a sentence without interrupting himself fifty thousand times, but at least he wasn't screaming at him like everyone else had been. Akutsu slitted his eyes open.  
"How come what?"  
"Aren't you hot in your coat?"  
"Nah," Akutsu replied. Guess Kawamura couldn't get the hint no matter how obvious it was he didn't want to talk. Guy always was asking him questions, saying hello, pestering him every time he saw him about tennis and telling him what was going on at his school as if Akutsu gave a fuck. Akutsu sure as hell would have popped him one at some point if they hadn't been friends--hell not friends, acquaintances, or whatever, since they were kids.  
"Are you sick? You look sick."  
"Little cold," Akutsu grunted. "Headcold or something. It doesn't matter."  
"You look terri--uh, how come you're sitting in the park? It's not too hot with what all you're wearing?"  
What the hell was this, the Spanish Inquisition? He would have said that if talking wasn't such fucking agony. As it was he just said "Nah" and closed his eyes pointedly for the ten thousandth fucking time.  
"You probably shouldn't be sitting outside if you're all sick," Kawamura said. He pushed his bike up against the side of the bench and came to sit next to him. He actually had the nerve to bother him that much. "Did you lose your key or something?"  
Akutsu was always losing his keys as a kid. Hell, he was always losing them now, but leave it to Kawamura to actually remember something like that.  
Through eyes barely opened he could see Kawamura looking at him all concerned, but the second he saw that Akutsu was watching him he averted his eyes and played with the sleeve of his school uniform.  
"I ain't going home," Akutsu said. "Mom won't shut up trying to take care of me and it's fucking annoying. I wanted to go where I could get some peace and quiet."  
Kawamura didn't seem to notice his heavy emphasis on the last words.  
"You could come back to my house," he said, that stupid cheerful lilt to his voice he always had, going on like he hadn't heard a word Akutsu said. "Maybe if you ate something you'd feel better. At the very least you wouldn't be outside anymore and you could, uh, warm up a little and--"  
"I'm fine, Kawamura."  
"You're not hungry?"  
"No." If he was or if he wasn't it didn't matter. Dead man didn't have to die with anything in his belly.  
"Not even a glass of water?"  
Akutsu let out the long sigh of the utterly defeated. He opened his eyes the rest of the way.  
"Fine," he said.  
"Huh?"  
"If it means so much the fucking world to you I'll go and get a glass of water at your place. Happy now?"  
Kawamura, grinning like an idiot in reply.  
"One glass of water," Akutsu said, like he was doing him a favor. Hell, Kawamura looked like he'd just told him he'd won the lottery. Akutsu had no clue what the hell was so great about dragging him, deathly ill and looking like shit, back and horrifying Kawamura's family's restaurant's customers. But then again he never had been able to figure out Kawamura in the first place--guy was weird, when it came down to it.  
"One glass," he croaked, "and then I'm coming right back here and getting some sleep."  
"Okay," Kawamura said. He got his bike and stood there while Akutsu got up from the bench. So it took him a little bit to get back on his feet. At least Kawamura knew he'd fucking kill him if he did some jackass thing like offer him a hand to help him up. He just stood and watched.  
Finally Akutsu was up and ready to go. Then Kawamura started in with his concern bullshit again.  
"You okay to walk?" Clearly he could walk. See--there was no explaining Kawamura. People like him would sit there with these eyes glistening concern all over you if you had a freaking paper cut.  
Akutsu scowled at him. "I'm not fucking crippled, Kawamura."  
"I didn't mean that," Kawamura said pleasantly. "I just know it's tough to walk when you don't feel good. If you want, you could sit on the handlebars of my bike or something--Momo and I did that one time, actually we went over a rock and he fell off--" He laughed helplessly.  
Akutsu gave him what he hoped was a killing look.  
"I won't run over a rock this time though," Kawamura told him, as if that was what the whole problem was.  
"I can walk," Akutsu said, for the fucking millionth time.  
"Okay."  
So they walked to his place together, Kawamura pushing his bike, and sometimes Akutsu sort of rested his hand on the handlebars as they walked, not like he couldn't stand up without it, but he might as well. 


	3. Part Three

Fever + Dream  
Chapter Three  
  
It was the end of his second drink--yeah, so what. He said one; he'd had two. He'd underestimated how thirsty he was. Besides, he didn't know if it was whatever the hell he'd come down with or what but the only time he didn't feel two centimeters away from death was when he was drinking something cold. This way he didn't have to waste any of his money to the stupid vending machine; normally he was pretty good scamming free stuff out of them, but he wasn't at the top of his game when he was all feverish and shit. If Kawamura wanted to keep the water coming Akutsu'd be a fool to turn it away, was how he thought of it.  
Still, two glasses was gonna be his limit. He couldn't have Kawamura thinking he was going to sit around and waste both of their time all evening. Looked like Kawamura was officially on restaurant duty anyway, walking around asking people if they wanted something else to drink and greeting people at the door and shit. Not like they were all that busy but Akutsu sure as hell wasn't going to waste any more time. When he'd drained the second cup he got up to leave, hoping Kawamura'd be busy with something and he could slip out the door unnoticed.  
No such luck--the minute Akutsu put his hands on the table to steady himself and pushed himself upward Kawamura was all running over to him.  
"You going, Akutsu?"  
Well, what the hell did it look like? He wouldn't have dignified that with a response, but when he stood up his vision went all black and starry for some reason. Barely even noticing what he was doing he plunked back down on his ass like some moron.  
"Akutsu?"  
Akutsu didn't say anything back. He kind of felt like he was going to throw up.  
"You okay, Akutsu?"  
Jesus, he'd feel better if Kawamura would quit asking him a million questions a minute. Akutsu readied his hands to steady himself so he could stand back up and get out of there fast He might not have cared much what anyone there thought of him but if possible he'd like to leave before he was puking on the table or something.  
"Hey," Kawamura was saying over his thoughts. "Seriously, you okay?"  
Akutsu spoke so quietly that Kawamura had to lean all close. "I'm okay," he said, when he was sure he could open his mouth. "Felt a little sick to my stomach there, but I'm gonna go now--"  
"You think you might throw up?"  
What, did he need a diagram? "Nah," Akutsu said. "I'm going. Maybe I drank too much water or something." It occurred to him he hadn't eaten that day either. Not like he hadn't ever gone a day without eating, but that could explain it.  
Kawamura was still looking at him like he thought he was gonna explode or something. Akutsu sighed.  
"I'm okay, Kawamura. Don't go getting all freaked out."  
"Akutsu," he said. "I don't want you walking home if you feel sick. That'd be awful. Maybe you should lie down a little bit"--he repeated "just a little bit" when he saw Akutsu giving him the look of death--"just until you feel better?"  
"You want me to freaking lay down right here?"  
"Not here," Kawamura said, laughing like it was all some big joke. "No. I'm sure my dad'll let me off so we can go up to my room and maybe you can take a little nap and then go home and I can--"  
"No."  
"No?"  
"I'm going home." It would have been so much easier if he just could have walked out the door, but he was all shaky. Jesus fuck, it was embarrassing. If he caught the son of a bitch that gave him this damn plague or whatever it was he was going to kill him.  
"Akutsu," Kawamura said. Serious. Like--stern. Not much like Kawamura at all. "I really think you should lie down for a little bit before you go home."  
It wasn't like he'd meant to, but a couple of times by pure chance Akutsu had seen Kawamura play tennis. Aw hell, he'd had to see him after he'd heard some idiots talking about Kawamura-from-Seigaku-that-aggressive- scary-tennis player. He'd laughed. Kawamura didn't have an aggressive bone in his body. But sure enough Kawamura with a racket in his hand was a whole different person, not just a good player since he was pretty good at most physical things kind of like Akutsu himself was so that was no surprise, but--yeah. A world different. Confident. Cocky, even, Kawamura of all people. Laughing and taunting and making his opponent back off like he was some big scary bastard. It was downright fucked up. Sometime he'd have to make the bastard play a few games with him.  
Except Akutsu didn't play tennis anymore.  
But whatever.  
Anyway, the whole point was that looking at Kawamura now, it was the same look in his eyes as he had clutching a racket on the court. Like he was going to give him a hard time if he kept saying no. It wasn't that Akutsu couldn't handle Kawamura of all people giving him a hard time but fuck it--he wasn't going to deal with it.  
So he rolled his eyes.  
"Okay?" Kawamura pressed. His insistence was gone. He was smiling a little bit. Guy was always smiling. You'd think his face would get tired.  
  
"If I go lay down for ten minutes are you gonna be happy?"  
"Yes," Kawamura said. Smile got bigger. Weird-ass guy. He practically bounced over to his dad; Akutsu heard him saying his buddy sitting over there at one of the tables lost his keys and was sick and could he have some time off to bring him to his room and make sure he was all right.  
Kawamura's dad said okay but was giving him looks. Fuck him. Akutsu didn't care what he thought.  
Kawamura came back over. "He said it's okay."  
"I told you I didn't lose my key," Akutsu said, giving him a look.  
"Oh," Kawamura whispered. "I know."  
"You lied," Akutsu said incredulously.  
"Yeah," Kawamura said, turning red, his hand wandering to clutch at his neck. "I did."  
Akutsu couldn't help but laugh It was probably the worst thing Kawamura had ever done in his life.  
See, that was one of the ten million things that was so different between the two of them that it was a wonder they could stand each other at all. Akutsu knew that lies were essential to living in the world; Kawamura would probably go through two weeks of guilt over the first time he'd told his parents anything other than the 100% objective facts of the situation.  
  
But whatever. Kawamura kind of shrugged, and it really was fucking hilarious if you thought about it, and the two of them went out of the restaurant part of the house, up the stairs to Kawamura's room. 


	4. Part Four

Fever + Dream  
Chapter Four  
  
Yeah. So the fuck what? He'd come in and lay down and after Kawamura wheedled him forever he'd even took off his coat and accepted the blanket Kawamura offered. He didn't need a blanket, but whatever. If it made Kawamura happy and shut him up he would have done whatever it took. He was far past the stage where he felt like arguing.  
Problem was, when he lay down he started sweating like a bastard, even though he was still freezing cold, and that just sent Kawamura into this pointless hilarious mother-hen mode. When Akutsu had the blanket all over him--bastard actually spread the blanket over him, though Akutsu balked when he started to tuck him in like he was three fucking years old, he had limits no matter how shitty he felt--and he was lying there sweating and hurting and had drained at least three cups of water and way the fuck more than ten minutes had gone by, Kawamura had sensed some little grain of weakness in him and left for a little bit.  
He came back with a bowl of rice and some soup.  
"I don't want any fucking soup, Kawamura," Akutsu glared.  
"Oh, come on, it's good. We just had it and I reheated it and--"  
"I'm not eating any fucking soup!"  
"It'll go to waste," Kawamura said, fake-regretful, looking at him like he was going to fall for such a stupid ploy.  
"Like I care."  
"Please?"  
Akutsu gave him a long look. Please?  
"Well, I gotta go clean up the mess I made reheating it or Dad'll yell at me," Kawamura said. "Maybe you can eat a few bites of rice at least?"  
"Like hell," Akutsu said, turning his head so he was half-speaking into the pillow.  
"It's good for your stomach."  
"I'm going home."  
"Okay, I'm leaving," Kawamura said. Chalk one up for Akutsu that round. "Just don't go until I get back, okay? It'll only take a few minutes."  
"I'm going now," Akutsu said, but instead he listened to Kawamura clatter down the stairs and tried not to look at the food he'd left, chopsticks lying over the rim of the bowl, by the side of the bed.  
Even if he didn't look at it he could smell it.  
Akutsu supposed it didn't smell all that bad. Would have served Kawamura right if it had turned his stomach all the way and he'd have puked on his bed, but the more he thought about it the more he supposed he could eat something, just a little bit, not enough for Kawamura to notice and real quick before he got back.  
He rolled over a little bit, where the food was, got a little bit of rice with the chopsticks and stuck it in his mouth after listening to make sure the bastard wasn't coming back . He chewed, swallowed; waited to get sick. He didn't.  
And yeah, once he started eating he was ravenous. The little bites he was taking at first became hungry mouthfuls; the rice was gone before he knew it, and then he poked at the soup's contents a little with his chopsticks. He guessed it didn't look all that fucking bad.  
Akutsu picked out the parts that looked the best with his chopsticks; that's all he figured he'd do, at first, but next thing he knew he had the bowl to his lips and was sucking it down like crazy. Hell, who was he to question what his body told him. If the treacherous fucker wanted him to eat something there wasn't anything he could do about it.  
When he was done, he wished he hadn't eaten the whole thing, though. He supposed it was better to have gotten it out of his system since he'd be damned if he was going to let Kawamura walk in on him eating but he still should have left off a lot earlier than he did.  
He put the bowls back where Kawamura had left them and closed his eyes again. He didn't open them again until Kawamura came back into the room.  
At least you had to give Kawamura credit that he didn't say anything. He just took the dishes out without a word, ran them downstairs--guy loved running around, apparently--and came back holding a basin and a towel.  
Akutsu was pretty glad that he could open his eyes just enough to see what Kawamura was doing without Kawamura catching on. That way when the guy was stupid enough to come at him with a wet towel, like he was going to stick it on his forehead thinking Akutsu was having a moment of weakness, Akutsu could grab him at the last minute and scream at him and tell him he didn't need Kawamura mopping at his forehead like some fucking nursemaid. It was stupid, anyway. Akutsu was cold as fuck. He didn't need freezing cold water on him to kill him the rest of the way.  
Sickness fucked his timing all up though. By the time he was ready to jump, Kawamura already had the thing on his head. Weirdest thing of all was that it actually didn't feel all that bad, like his body was cold and his head was hot, or whatever the fuck it was. Didn't make any sense. Didn't make any sense the way Kawamura was all touching him like he was made of glass and would break any minute either. Akutsu guessed it was fear or something but really he didn't much get the impression Kawamura was afraid of him. Not usually at least.  
So there he was, Kawamura all leaning over him and pressing the cloth to his forehead, his cheeks. Took him for a sleeping sucker who'd just let him do that to him forever, and Akutsu guessed he was right, since he was letting him. He couldn't imagine why he was, either. Kawamura was acting just like his mom did when he got sick, and Akutsu hated when his mom did her little cluck-cluck-oh-you-poor-dear act with him.  
It really was the same, Kawamura the bastard.  
So how come it didn't piss him off?  
Best as he could figure it all had to do with the way they touched him. His mom pressed greasy Vapo Rub fingers on his chest and the minute Akutsu's lip curled up in a snarl she snatched them away like he was going to burn her. But even when he made a big show of curling his hands into fists over the cover Kawamura just kept dabbing and worrying and sighing.  
  
Akutsu couldn't think about it anymore.  
He opened his eyes and stared Kawamura down.  
"Are you feeling a little--"  
Akutsu put one weakened hand on Kawamura's shoulder, and he shut up.  
  
"Kawamura..."  
"Hm?"  
"You remember when that little bastard Echigoya--"  
"Echizen."  
"When that little creep bastard Echizen and I had that match and I left afterward and I told you--" Wait a fucking minute. He'd just told Kawamura not to lose. It didn't make any sense for him to be bringing it up now. He started again.  
"You remember when I came into your dojo and kicked all those sorry bastards' asses and you followed me like a dumb shit and gave me this I'm worried about you bullshit and I told you to fuck off?" That wasn't exactly what he said, but hell, give a dying bastard a break. He'd made his point. He thought.  
"Yeah?"  
"That was a warning. And you didn't listen to it, so you're in trouble."  
"Mmm-hmm?" Kawamura smiled and dipped the towel back into the basin. "I'm sorry. So does it feel a little better with your face cooled down a little?" Bastard was actually pretty good making sure that the towel wasn't too wet or too cold. His ass was dead the minute Akutsu could get out of bed.  
Akutsu sighed. There wasn't any point in talking to Kawamura about shit like that, and even he had to admit he wasn't hardly helping his case by letting him fuss all over him, so he gave up.  
Fucking hell.  
He didn't get Kawamura at all. Seemed like nothing he did he could get away from him. Seemed like he was always there, always talking to him no matter what Akutsu said, always trying to help him out when he didn't need anybody to help him and nobody offered you their help without wanting something in return anyway. That was totally the impression he was getting- -that Kawamura wanted something that he didn't want to ask for, and damned if Akutsu could figure it out or if he could figure it out he could help him with it. If anybody should have known that he was a worthless son of a bitch, it was Kawamura.  
But Kawamura was not a stupid guy. Maybe he was a chickenshit for not coming out and saying whatever it was he wanted Akutsu to do for him, but he wasn't stupid. He knew not to linger too long dabbing at him with that fucking towel and when to push the box of kleenex over his way and just when to get him another glass of water. When the cup was drained almost dry, just about two more swallows in the bottom of it, Kawamura would smile and take it from where he'd put it by the bed and run downstairs--Akutsu could hear him running--and bring it back filled with water and ice.  
"Here, I'll take that," Kawamura said, now that the cup was almost empty again. When he came back Akutsu took a drink, put the cup down hard on the floor, and said, "Come here, Kawamura."  
"Hmm?"  
What Akutsu was going to do was tell him he was a fucking sucker. He and Kawamura might have been totally different people but neither of them needed to be waiting on anyone, especially someone who appreciated it as little as Akutsu did.  
"Closer."  
"Huh?"  
And when Akutsu was right in front of his face, Kawamura did this stupid little flinch thing, which took him totally off guard. That was one thing you could say about the guy--and Akutsu had tested him, believe it, he had--Kawamura was about the only person in the world who didn't flinch when Jin Akutsu was two inches away from him and deadly serious. Unless Kawamura had a serious germ phobia he never knew about it didn't make any sense that he was flinching now.  
So maybe Kawamura was getting sick too; serve him right, fussing all over him the whole night like Akutsu was three years old or something, because not only did he do that little flinch thing but it looked like his face was getting hot and when he blinked he held it out extra long in some weird way. Kawamura had pretty long eyelashes, too. Akutsu guessed he'd never looked at him close enough before.  
And suddenly Akutsu knew what it was that Kawamura had been wanting, and fucked up as it was--fever eating his brain, it had to have been, just like he thought--Akutsu thought that maybe he wanted it too.  
Fuck if he knew how to do it, but if that was what it was, far be it from him to worry about that sort of bullshit.  
How the hell would he know how to kiss someone--some fucking guy? Kissing was stupid anyway. But he sort of grabbed the back of Kawamura's head, so that his hand rested right where his hair stopped in the back, and brought him forward, not all gentle and mushy and crap but not hard either, and he kept his eyes open while Kawamura closed his and they put their lips together and--there you have it. What the fuck else was there to say? Akutsu kissed him.  
Jesus. He'd seen kisses in movies and shit, some pretty raunchy movies too, actually, but he didn't know when you did it, it would seem like time drew out all weird and just when one kiss was ending another one would begin.  
And even though in some of those raunchy movies they were all slobbering all over each other and practically wrestling with their tongues you never saw how it began. That wasn't how it was at all. It was just a matter of--after he'd kissed him a few times, and Kawamura's face got even hotter than his, and started kissing him back so he wasn't doing all the work, their mouths just sort of opened on their own. It was Akutsu who pushed his tongue into Kawamura's mouth first, but then he did the same back, and that kiss was the longest of all. Akutsu guessed they didn't cut it out until both practically couldn't breathe.  
And when that kiss was over there was this weird moment where they were like staring at each other, Kawamura bright red and shocked-looking but smiling a little bit too, and then they both turned at the same time and saw that somehow Kawamura had knocked the cup of water over on the floor. It made a darkened stain dotted with ice cubes where it had spilled.  
"Oh, geez, sorry," Kawamura said. "I'll go get a towel."  
So Akutsu lay back on the bed. Kawamura came back with the towel and set a fresh glass of water down, but by that point Akutsu was feeling all wasted and tired and fucked up again and was resting his eyes, on and off. When Kawamura was done cleaning up he took one of his schoolbooks off his desk and lay on his stomach on the floor.  
"What're you laying on the floor for," Akutsu croaked flatly. "It's your bed."  
"Oh," Kawamura said. He smiled at him. "I don't mind. I like to read on the floor."  
"It's your bed," Akutsu repeated.  
"No, no, I really don't--"  
"You can lay down on the fucking bed, Kawamura," Akutsu said through clenched teeth. It hurt to talk. You would think Kawamura would consider that.  
Kawamura laughed a little, nervous or something. "Okay then." He got on the bed real gently, on the side close to Akutsu--had to be close, the bed wasn't that big. At first he was reading but then he put the book, open to the page he'd left off on, over his chest and closed his eyes a little bit too. And then Akutsu really didn't know anymore what happened after that, because to be honest he went to fucking sleep. It wasn't like he was some moron who just went and fell asleep on every guy he ever met's bed. It was that he was sick, goddammit.  
When he woke up, Kawamura was telling him it was awfully late and wouldn't Akutsu's mom worry if he was out all night without her knowing where he was, and he was sure his parents wouldn't mind if he needed to crash there for the night but he should at least call first.  
Akutsu'd woken up groggy-headed. "Nah," he said. "I can just go home. My mom'll bitch me out if I call and I don't feel like arguing on the phone."  
"Okay," Kawamura told him.  
Akutsu got his coat and shit and was ready to leave.  
"Akutsu?" Kawamura said, right when he was all ready to go. Akutsu grunted in response.  
"Uh," Kawamura said. "If you're still sick tomorrow, and want to get away, you know. I'm sure my parents won't mind if you want to crash here."  
Akutsu grunted again.  
It sure as hell was quieter at Kawamura's house.  
He didn't say that he figured he might. 


	5. Part Five

Fever + Dream  
Chapter Five  
  
The next morning, when Taka woke up, he had the weirdest feeling in his head--headaches, okay, he'd had before, but this was a dull and constant ache that turned into pounding agony whenever he moved, talked, or blinked.  
Eating his breakfast hurt. Brushing his teeth hurt. Getting dressed and walking to school hurt like crazy, but he sat through all of his classes and told himself to concentrate extra hard on taking notes and learning the material. Surely that would get him through the day.  
Even he had to admit when he'd gone into the locker room to change he was hitting a low point, though. He ran out on the field, started warming up with the guys, but everyone could tell something was wrong.  
Inui told him he could whip up a drink that would be perfect to take care of the problem. Fuji put his hand on Taka's arm and told him it wouldn't be a big deal at all if he were to miss practice when he was so obviously sick, and finally Ooishi furrowed his brow and worried about his health and the health of the other members and only let Taka do half a practice.  
Taka felt bad about going home, but he guessed it was all right. Maybe Ooishi did have a point about not infecting his teammates.  
But when he'd given up and was heading toward the locker room, Fuji stopped him and asked him if he knew what he'd come down with.  
"I'm sorry to see you suffering, Taka-san," Fuji smiled. "Maybe you caught it from one of your friends?"  
"I'm sure it's nothing," Taka said, shrugging. "Headcolds are going around."  
But Fuji noticed that his cheeks were pink when he smiled. 


End file.
